


Nesting

by Nuka_After_Dark



Series: Fallout 4 Ficlets, Drabbles, and One-shots [6]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Blind Betrayal spoilers, F/M, Post-Blind Betrayal, Took some liberties with the bunker and ripped some text straight from the game, pregnancy mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:40:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24984706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nuka_After_Dark/pseuds/Nuka_After_Dark
Summary: When Nora finally finds were Paladin Danse has been hiding she tries everything to convince him to stay with her and convince him he is not a monster. It's not until she tells him her deepest secret that he is able to truly believe her.
Relationships: Paladin Danse/Female Sole Survivor, Paladin Danse/Sole Survivor (Fallout)
Series: Fallout 4 Ficlets, Drabbles, and One-shots [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1807771
Kudos: 20





	Nesting

“I should have known they would send you,” Danse muttered, barely bothering to raise his head from his hands. “I suppose they’ve already told you. And you’ve already come to your decision.”

Nora stood in the door, unsure of how to enter or approach. It hurt her to see Danse sitting there, the pain so evident in his eyes. She wanted to break down and cry, but she knew she had to be strong if she was going to get through to him.

“Danse,” Nora whispered, her voice carrying through the barracks easily. “Look at me.”

“Of course,” he said with a surprisingly steady voice, pulling his face from his hands. He turned his gaze to her and waited. Even at a distance Nora could tell he had been crying and she knew that if she tasted his tears they would be just as salty as her own.

Danse said nothing as she stepped further into the room but his hands did tighten into fists at his sides, the leather creaking in protest as it was stretched taut over his knuckles. Nora walked carefully, not wanting to spook him or set off any other half-hearted defenses he might have placed. By time she reached him he was looking straight ahead as if he were unable to bear the sight of her any longer.

“I don’t understand,” Nora said softly as she sat on the bed beside him. She wanted so badly to reach out and touch him but she resisted. She knew he would just pull away from her, and that would hurt more than just being close.

“Believe me,” he said in his deep tenor, “This is more of a shock to me than it is to you. I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know? How–” Nora cut herself off as she realized how stupid her question was going to be. Of course he didn’t know. If he had known, if he had even suspected, he would have said something. He would have done something. It was simply who he was.

“It doesn’t make sense to me either. It just feels like a cruel joke. I remember my childhood. I remember how it was growing up in the ruins. I remember…. I remember so much. I still feel human but the proof is there. All of it.”

Nora reached out at last, placing a gentle hand on his knee. She could feel him flinch at the touch, but he didn’t pull away. Feeling a little braver she moved close enough that their thighs were touching. “Danse.”

“Don’t,” he muttered, still not pulling away from her. “Please, Knight, don’t make this any harder than this must already be on you. You can’t think of me as Danse anymore. I’m not– I was never him.”

“That empathy, Danse…. It’s a human emotion.”

“It is,” Danse agreed sullenly, placing a hand atop hers briefly before sliding it back into his lap. “But I have already made my decision, Nora. I just wish it had been someone else, someone who wouldn’t make me question this. I’m an abomination, something that I swore to protect you from.”

“And you have,” Nora insisted, grabbing at his hand. He began to pull it away but stopped, allowing her to hold it instead. “You are living proof that Maxson was wrong about synths. All of them that we’ve fought before know, all of them that know what they are, they wouldn’t ask us to kill them to save the world. And that’s why we need you.” Nora raised the hand she was holding to her belly and pressed it in gently. “We need you, Danse.”

“No,” he muttered, pulling his hand away. Nora had to wonder what he was saying ‘no’ to. Her statement or her hint?

“Look at me, Danse. Please.” She waited until he was gazing at her again, his eyes filled with doubt instead of sorrow. “I lost my husband. Shaun grew up without either of his parents there for him, but now I have a second chance. We have a second chance to do it right this time. I don’t care if you’re a human, or a synth, or– or a ghoul! We all have each other now, Danse. Please, help me do it right this time.”

Doubt turned to confusion, and then to understanding. “Are you saying…?”

Nora nodded as he trailed off, his brown eyes trailing down to her belly. “Yes, Danse, and if I thought for one minute that you would ever bring harm to my child I wouldn’t hesitate, no matter how much I loved you. But I know you. I know you have done nothing but good for this world, no matter what.”

“No,” Danse whispered, his gaze unwavering from her still unchanged form. “No, you wouldn’t.”

“I would,” Nora disagreed again. She knew that if she closed her eyes she would see Shaun, her sweet baby boy, watching as she backed away from the room, knowing that his next few breaths would be his last, all for the sake of the Commonwealth she now called home. She kept her eyes wide open, instead, unwilling to picture it. Unwilling to look away from the man that had guided and comforted her through that time.

“You truly refuse to see me as a monster,” Danse said in a tone of amazement. 

“Because you aren’t one,” Nora argued again. “You are still Danse, the man I met and fell in love with. The man I want to have in my life, in my baby’s life, for as long as we’re all around. Nothing is going to change that.”

Danse looked down at his feet and for one horrible moment Nora was sure he was going to argue toward his execution. She only had one argument left, one that she was keeping back in case all else failed. But in the end, she didn’t need it.

“There are settlements we can go to, correct? Places that accept synths– that accept people like me.”

“Yes,” Nora said with a sigh of relief. “Yes, Danse, there’s plenty of settlements that won’t judge you for being you. They’ll see that you’re a good man, a hard working man. They’ll see you as a father. As a husband. As someone still willing to lend a hand to anyone in need. And even if they don’t, well, there’s more that will.”

“‘As a husband’?” Danse asked, a smile finally creeping onto his face as he turned toward her again. “Is that your way of asking me?”

“Why not.” Nora answered with a laugh. “Back in my day it was the man that asked, at least in my case, but since the whole world has gone to hell, why not? We can do this, Danse. We can be one big happy family again. A husband, a wife, and a baby.”

“Yes,” Danse mused, eyes trailing to her stomach again. “Yes. I believe we can do that.”

**Author's Note:**

> Make sure to check out my Tumblr, nuka-after-dark to see more of my works not posted here or to request a work of your own!


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